HERMITAGE COMMUNITY PROGRAM PRESENTS
ETHEL AT FREE BAYFRONT PERFORMANCE
The Hermitage Artist Retreat presents a free community program with the string quartet ETHEL on Saturday, May 23 on the New College bay front at College Hall. The free program will begin at 7:30 PM and continue through sunset at 8:16, concluding around 8:30. The theme of ETHEL’s concert will be A Salute to the Hermitage and Hermitage Composers. Thirteen Hermitage composers have written for ETHEL. They will be performing some of their own greatest hits and some music of other Hermitage composers. The concert will also feature a special ETHEL meditation during the setting sun. As with the ever-popular beach events held on the Hermitage campus, visitors are advised to bring their own seating and any refreshments they would care to enjoy during the event.
“What an amazing evening this will be,” said Executive Director Bruce E. Rodgers. “EHTEL will have finished a second residency with us, and as with all our artists, are asked to do a community give-back. Their last Hermitage program attracted over 450 people to our beach. We are very excited that New College is partnering with us so we can share these amazing musicians in another part of the county.”
ETHEL performs around the country, including twice in the past year at the historic Asolo Theater in Sarasota. The group was founded in 1998 and is comprised of Ralph Farris (viola), Dorothy Lawson (cello), Kip Jones (violin), and Corin Lee (violin). They are known for their collaborations with many of the top composers working today, as well as other musicians and vocalists. The New York Times has called them “extraordinarily skilled, passionate musicians.” The San Diego Union-Tribune said “This relentlessly inventive string quartet is setting the standard for new music engagement.”
Hermitage Co-Founder and Program Director Patricia Caswell explained, “We have been looking for ways to bring our wildly popular “Artist on the Beach” events to Sarasota so people can get the Hermitage experience in North Sarasota County. ETHEL gave a thrilling sunset performance here on our beach in December for 450 people. Though the bay isn’t as barefoot casual as the beach, the May 23rd program will approximate the aesthetic experience in our natural environment. Thank you to New College for lending their beautiful setting. This will be a night to remember.”
The Hermitage is a not-for-profit artist retreat located at 6660 Manasota Key Road in Englewood, FL. It invites accomplished painters, sculptors, writers, playwrights, poets, composers and other artists from all over the world for residencies on its beachfront historic campus. Artists are asked to contribute two services to the community during their stay and as a result, Hermitage artists touch thousands of Gulf Coast community residents with unique and inspiring programs each year. All Hermitage community programs are partially sponsored by the Women’s Exchange and the Florida Division of Cultural Affairs. In addition, the Hermitage awards and administers the prestigious Greenfield Prize, an annual $30,000 commission for a new work of art, rotating among three disciplines: visual art, music and drama. The Hermitage also partners with the Aspen Music Festival and School to award the annual Hermitage Prize to a composition student during the Festival. For more information about The Hermitage Artist Retreat, call 941-475-2098 or visit the website at www.HermitageArtistRetreat.org.
